


espresso shot

by seenstealers



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Baristas, Flirting, Fluff, Insomniac Bang Chan, M/M, chan get some sleep please, chan is sweet and tired, wow that's a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-18 14:50:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17582924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seenstealers/pseuds/seenstealers
Summary: minho thinks chan is really cute, dark circles and all.





	espresso shot

—

 **To:** kim.w0ojin@hotmail.com  
**From:** minho2598@gmail.com

hey bossman, i cant make it for my shift this friday. is it possible to move me to sometime before then?

sorry for the inconvenience,

minho

—

 **To:** minho2598@gmail.com  
**From:** kim.w0ojin@hotmail.com

Hi Minho.

Tomorrow morning.

\- Sent from my iPhone

—

 

It seemed like whenever Minho emailed Woojin, his boss attempted to respond with the absolute bare minimum effort. It was always pretty funny.

Minho had a final scheduled on Friday, just an hour after his mid-afternoon shift at the cafe would end that day, even though he worked evenings most days. He’d forgotten to email his boss before, as he should have, but Woojin was so easygoing it didn’t really matter.

Woojin was also incredibly unspecific, so Minho had to look up when the Tuesday morning shift even was. He peeped around the employee section of their website.

7-12. Minho winced. He hadn’t gotten up that early since freshman year, when he stupidly scheduled 8am classes four days a week in the hope that it’ll teach him how to be more regimented. Three years of college later, he was in junior year and got to campus around 1pm latest. He gingerly set himself a 6:15am alarm. The cafe was only a 10 minute walk from his place, about halfway to campus, and Minho didn’t have to try hard to make himself look presentable in the morning. One of the many advantages to being born beautiful.

Minho walked into work at 6:45 to help with some of the final set up. He could’ve been earlier if he was a more considerate person, but this was a one-time thing, he wasn’t going to try too hard at it.

Light attempted to stream in through the windows, but it was a cloudy morning. The cafe was darker than usual inside, a little gloomy. The speakers were already on and faintly playing Frank Ocean, a routine that whichever poor soul had to work this early on the regular had probably adopted. He couldn’t see anyone, but some of the machinery was already turned on, and the register’s lights were glowing.

Minho walked into the back room to leave his jacket and bag, putting on his apron from the closet and making sure to clock in, taking only his phone with him back to the front. He checked himself out in the dingy hallway full-length mirror. The green apron looked good on his black shirt.

He walked behind the counter to see if there was anything to do. On the seat pushed against the wall, there was a blond head hunched down, slowly scrolling through their phone.

“Hey, I guess I missed you coming in earlier,” Minho greeted him, still unsure of who it was.

The boy looked up at him, locking his phone. “Morning,” He said, his voice accented. That face with that voice, Minho suddenly recognized him. “Chan, right?” He asked. Chan nodded. “And you’re Minho?” To which Minho nodded. Chan’s voice sounded exhausted. “Yeah, Woojin told me you were filling in for Mina. Thanks for taking such an early time, I’d die if I had to do it alone.”

Minho waved his hand as if to say “no problem”, not bothering to explain that he hadn’t even known he was filling in for someone, and that he wasn’t really given a choice. This made him look like a good, charitable person- always a good look.

He’s worked with Chan twice before. They hardly spoke either time, but Minho always found the other boy cute, really cute. He had a sweet smile, and the way he spoke so softly to customers was pretty adorable. Not to mention, he wore well-fitting jeans that left Minho thinking about his thighs for the rest of the day.

The only other thing Minho could remember about Chan was how _tired_ he always seemed to be, and the living proof was right before his eyes. His porcelain skin made the dark circles under his eyes stand out, and Minho could tell his eyelids were heavy from paces away. Last time they worked together several months back, Chan looked like he was falling asleep behind the register. It had sort of pissed Minho off, he was the type to be in his own headspace when dealing with their customers and making their dumb coffee orders, so after asking Chan for the fourth time whether he’s taken care of an order placed over five minutes before, he reached his limit.

Minho just told himself to work that shift without past prejudice, and instead focus on how cute Chan looked when he yawned. “Have you had breakfast?” Minho asked Chan, who was now checking the cash in the register drawer. They had a few minutes left before opening. Chan shook his head, his forehead becoming covered with the yellow fluff sitting on his head. He pushed his bangs back to the side. “No, I don’t really eat breakfast. I should, but I usually just hold out until lunch.”

They opened, and the shift went smoothly until the last two hours. They had been powering through, switching between the register and making drinks. Traffic started getting quicker at 10, with Minho taking orders. Customers began loitering around the front, their drinks not appearing at the counter, even for the simplest orders. There came a break in customers, and three people had been standing around after waiting for five minutes for cappuccinos and a vanilla latte. Minho spun around.

“How hard is it to make a fucking cappuccino, dude?” Minho hissed loudly at Chan, who was idle at the machine, his back to Minho. Chan perked up, eyes wider than they had been all morning. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, looking around. Minho sighed, the dude had dozed off facing the wall with the machines. Chan muttered an apology, clearly embarrassed, rubbing his puffy eyes. He turned back to the wall, picking up the named cups, head hung.

Minho suddenly felt bad. He watched as Chan quickly put together two cappuccinos and a vanilla latte. He was still pouring with care despite the pressure. The blond carried the three cups at the same time to the counter and called the names, taking care with the pronunciations. He met Minho’s eyes for a second before turning back. He was clearly tearing up.

Fuck, _fuck_. Had Minho made this dude cry?

There was nobody walking in, so Minho walked back to Chan, who was scrolling through his phone in his apron pocket. “Hey, uh, you okay?” Chan looked up at him and smiled tightly, his eyes less glassy than before, but the same look on this face. “Yeah, I’m fine.” A song Minho didn’t recognize played over the cafe chatter. “I’m embarrassed, sorry, I don’t, really get enough sleep. I have a lot going on. So sorry.” Chan stumbled out. Minho’s breath hitched, he could see how overwhelmed he was.

Minho noticed how similar their heights were in how directly he could look in the other’s eyes. “It’s okay, you did nothing wrong,” Minho trailed off, unsure how to make him feel better again.

Chan sighed. “I feel so bad, ugh. I always fuck up on morning shifts. I’ve never fallen asleep before though, what the hell.” He whispered, half to himself.

“And I fucked up that macchiato earlier, how could I fuck up a macchiato, fuck.” He was right, he had fucked up an order, but Minho’s annoyance about it was gone. “It doesn’t matter, I promise.” Minho awkwardly touched Chan’s arm in attempt to comfort him. Before he pulled back he made a mental note of how firm his upper arm was. Interesting.

Chan smiled, plump lips curling back over white teeth, “Thanks, I still feel bad. I promise I’ll stay alert. Someone’s coming in,” he pointed behind Minho.

At 12, Jisung and Dahyun came in, energetic and ready to take over, and Chan and Minho gratefully retired their positions to the other baristas. Chan went straight to the back room, Minho coming in a few minutes later.

When he walked in, Chan was sitting at the small white table, apron off and hoodie clinging to his white t-shirt. He was looking through what looked like news on his phone. There was no window, and after getting doused in gentle daylight for a few hours, the stark white light was painful to the eyes.

Minho sat in the seat across Chan, and placed a sandwich he had just bought from Jisung on the table. “Here, for you. You haven’t eaten today.” Chan’s eyes trailed away from his phone to the sandwich, then to Minho. “Really?” Minho nodded, taking his apron off and tossing it to another chair. “Yeah, ham and cheese, unless you don’t like it.”

Chan seemed like the type to reject things other people do for him, but Minho guessed that he was genuinely hungry enough to accept the gesture. “Thanks,” the other boy mumbled, a warm blush climbing his soft cheeks. He pushed his phone to the side and slid the sandwich to himself, unwrapping it and taking a bite. He released a pleased hum at the taste. The cafe did have great sandwiches."It's ironic you're so tired with so much coffee around," Minho joked to lighten the mood. Chan giggled, interrupting the bite he was taking.

Minho's chest warmed up. Chan was cute. He could say it over and over.

“You leaving soon?” Minho questioned. Chan looked to the watch on his wrist. “Twenty minutes. I have another job in the area I go to after my shifts here, so I usually just stick around back here until it’s time.” Chan resumed eating carefully. “Oh, you work two jobs?” Minho asked gently. “Yeah, it’s hard to balance with school but I need them. Sometimes I do other random jobs too, life can get a lot then.” School too, Minho thought. They were probably the same age, he hadn’t been sure.

“That’s why I’m so damn tired all the time,” Chan laughed gently, taking the last bite, gently wrapping the trash into a small rectangle. “I’m either working here, or there, or I’m in class, or I’m studying. There’s no time for much… especially sleep. I’ve had insomnia for years, but now I’m even more tired on top of it with all the shit I have to do to sustain myself.” Minho felt his heart squeeze. “Oh,” was all he could really say.

“Then I’ll stay with you until you go, you shouldn’t be in here all alone,” Minho said finally, another rush of red filling Chan’s face. “Oh, you don’t have to,” the other said shyly. Minho reached over for his bag at the side of the room and pulled out a thick pack of paper. “I have work to do anyway. Finals season,” Minho declared, soaking in the sight of a smiley, blushing Chan.

They sat like that for a bit, Minho reading his textbook printouts and Chan diligently scrolling through articles. After a few minutes, Minho noticed Chan’s phone laying, neglected, and Chan nodding off, head almost touching the table. Minho poked him.

“Psst. The tables gross. You can just, like, sleep on my shoulder,” Minho said gently. “If you want,” he quickly added. Chan thought for a moment, then his brain probably said ‘fuck it’ and he nodded, scooting over to the chair next to Minho, lightly placing his head on Minho’s shoulder, slipping back into sleep quickly.

His breathing was gentle, and he slept with a smile on his face.

Minho gently shook him awake when the time approached that Chan had said he had to leave. The blond sat up quickly and rubbed his eyes, running his hands through his hair. They both got themselves ready to go, pulling on light jackets for the spring breeze.

They walked through the cafe and pushed through the heavy glass door. The air was crisp, and the street was fairly busy for a Tuesday.

“Well, I’ll get going. I have tables to wait,” Chan said, slightly squinting in the mild sunlight. Minho smiled and waved goodbye to him, Chan waving back, then turning down the opposite way. Minho let him walk a few steps before he shouted his name.

“Chan!”

The blond stopped in his tracks and turned back. “What’s up?” He called back. Minho didn’t say anything for a second, allowing the sound of passing cars fill the air as he grappled for confidence.

“Wanna go on a date with me?”

He shot his shot, nails digging into his palm. Chan thankfully smiled widely, looking a little surprised.

“Yeah, I’d like that a lot.”

Minho nodded contently and turned away, smiling as he walked. Chan’s voice rang out again.

“Hey, I need your number or something!”

Minho didn’t stop.

“You already have it.” He called, not looking back.

Chan searched his contacts as he walked to the restaurant. Minho’s name and number were indeed there. He must’ve put it in when Chan was asleep and his phone lay unlocked. Smooth, Chan thought in disbelief that one of the most beautiful people he’d ever seen had just asked him out after that mess of a morning.

 **Chan:** hey, it’s chan

 **Minho:** hey! free tonight? i kinda miss your company already.

Chan blushed for the hundredth time that day, a warmth keeping him awake for hours to come.

**Author's Note:**

> hi i love chan and minho and i love minchan and i love coffee shop aus so this was the only reasonable thing to write to procrastinate on everything I have to do.
> 
> leave a comment if you fancy, i love reading them <3
> 
> come say hi on twitter [(@cosmichhj)](https://twitter.com/cosmichhj) or leave me [a cc!](https://curiouscat.me/neosuhh)


End file.
